


Pollination Station

by Phobia



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Bruises, F/M, M/M, Other, Scars, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-01-29 16:13:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12634596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phobia/pseuds/Phobia
Summary: This is a slow burn fic of a nonbinary reader and cagney, y'all.





	1. Chapter 1

You had been running for what felt like hours. Thorned branches ripping at your exposed calves, shoes destroying the grass with sheer force and adrenaline as you tried to escape the clutches of the root pack. Sweat dripping down your face like water, they were gaining on you fast. 

Glancing over your shoulder, you could see them digging into the ground, springing back up to see how close they were to you, then going back down. Psycarrot was in the lead, Weepy and Moe following behind. In an effort to out run them, you pick up the pace, dirt kicking up and leaving light footprints on the hard path.

Thinking the only member of the root pack that could actually hurt you was psycarrot, you focused your attention on how much distance he covered eatch time he went down and came back up, checking for a pattern.

"Up, down, up, down, u-" your mumbling was cut off when a big drop of water hit you out of nowhere, it made you stumble, and practically eat dirt. You cringed in pain when the water reached your small gashes on your lower legs, it stung, and you questioned if it was actually water at all. You had to keep moving, and if the Root Pack wasn't close behind before, they sure were now.

Looking back ahead of you, you could see the entrance to a different boss stage. You headed straight for it, with the hopes that once you reached it you might be able to get this boss and the Root Pack to fight and you could just sneak out in the aftermath. Seems like a simple idea in theory, but in practice you are basically dead meat. The hardest part would be getting there without being killed. 

Hope seemed to fuel your legs as you started running faster, approaching the gate just ahead of you. You were about 3 feet away, preparing yourself to leap over the fence when you felt the ground below you move and shake, realizing that Psycarrot was right under you. Your legs locked and froze with fear, you were too high up to even think about jumping, but if you stayed Psycarrot wasn't going to let you go alive.

Before he could even try to reach for you, You got a running start on the top of his head, pushing off his forehead to get more air. You just barely got over the fence before you felt his claws rake down your back and grab onto the hem of your jeans. The force from the abrupt stop left you dangling like a ragdoll.

Being in this situation made you realize you weren't exactally the best contract collector, hell you couldn't even beat the first boss. But you were not going to give away your life so easily. Quickly whipping out the gun holstered in your jacket and aimed for Psycarrots wrist. 

Two loud bangs shattered the calm atmosphere of the rest of the forrest. You fell to the other side if the fence onto a bed if flowers. Then you heard something, It moved quickly through the grass and weaved inbetween the flower patches and bushes. Finally stopping mere feet from your side. 

"What are you doing in my garden, Root Pack?" A new voice yelled. The slight fury of the voice made your body tremble. What ever it was was defintely stronger than your previous enemys.

"If you haven't noticed, we ain't in your garden," Psycarrot retorted, just as Weepy and Moe had caught up. 

"Then why are you outside of my garden? Your garden is far from mine, so you had obvious intentions of entering my home," the other argued.

"Look, Cagney, why don't you just let us handle our own buisness instead of butting in when you aren't needed," Psycarrot barked. The conversation seemed to be held between the two, and the others too scared to join the banter.

"And what exactally is your buisness?" Cagney demanded to know. 

"Why, that human right there," Psy said while pointing at you. 

The gigantic flower turned and looked at you, eyes so intense your body tensed up and you could only stare back.

Against your aching body's will, you sprung up and bolted for the open space behind you. Since you put so much effort into your earlier run your legs were wobbling and buckling below you. With your stumbling you hit a rock and faceplanted straight into the dirt. 

"I will deal with them myself, since they destroyed my flowers," cagney lightly chuckled as he glanced back at your body in the dirt.

You could hear the members of the Root Pack grumble, not willing to fight with someone much stronger than them just for a pathetic human. You were dripping sweat once more. It seriously sucks to be chased non stop all day.

You checked behind you once more, and watched the root pack leave. You stopped near a couple bushes for cover. At this point, once you sat down you excluded the thought of ever getting up again.

Resting made you realize how badly you had been hurt. It really didn't seem like much while running on adrenaline but when taking a quick glance over your body you could quickly spot all the gashes and newly forming bruises. Ignoring them, you pulled your legs closer to you, rested your head atop your knees and passed out. 


	2. Chapter 2

You woke up slowly, feeling not-so-refreshed. Vines were tangled around your body holding you up in a tree. You decided to glance down, and decided immediately to put your attention to the sky. You dangled around twenty feet from the ground and that thought made you want to vomit, so you focused your attention on something else.

Not far away you saw an all too familiar flower working on his crops and almost as if he noticed your staring because he turned around to look at you. Your body went rigid as you kept his gaze, he didn't blink nor did you. It was barely 5 seconds and you were already sweating, and feeling vulnerable in your bindings didn't help. His gaze grew more intense and you started to slowly writhe in the vines before it turned into an all-out brawl with them.

Cagney just snickered at you and continued with his work. Your motions stilled because you really weren't getting anywhere, you scoffed and attempted to cross your arms which achieved little since your right arm was still completely tied up. Seeing as you knew you weren't gonna get out of this by yourself, you tried to wait out the big yellow flower's task so he could help you down when he was done because no amount of screaming and yelling would make him take his eyes off of his work after him witnessing the pathetic scene of your tussle with the vines. 

Your face was beet red from all of the blood rushing to it and he still didn't seem close to finishing. Your nose started to bleed and it made it hard for you to breathe, so you made another try at getting the attention of the carnation who was snubbing you out of his activities. 

"Gh-uuhh, H-hey, I cant bre- **cough COUGH HACK** "

Blood gushed down your face as you attempted to call for help. The weight of your pistol heavy in your pocket as vital fluid filled your mouth and throat. You grabbed your firearm and aimed for the climbing plants that held you hostage. You had to be careful with how many bullets you used, as they were in a limited supply, and you had never learned magic.

Gunfire echoed through the forest once again but all you could hear was ringing. One of the vines was too close to your head but you wouldn't have been free if you didn't go for that one. The ground seemed to approach rapidly before something incredibly _thorny_ dug into your ankle. You saw a blur of yellow before you were positioned upright facing that flower you had spent the last hour trying to get the attention of.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" Cagney said, in such a way that could only be described as _fucking pissed_. You pointed a lazy finger downward, but he didn't seem to even notice it and continued. 

"You, you brought the Root Pack here. I don't mind a little brawl every once in a while, but they destroyed my garden," You took a moment to look him up and down for any sign that he might have gotten his ass kicked. He snorted in response. 

"Of course I won. But it was your fault they were here, so you're gonna work for me until I see fit," You had no clue how he was trying to have a serious conversation with you when you were so out of it that every blink took two more seconds than normal and your hair couldn't pick a direction. He may have noticed and just didn't care because he took you over to his garden and dropped you there, and shortly after a spade shot into the ground merely inches from your eyes.

You pushed yourself onto your elbows and your gaze landed on the carnation. What in tarnation is that carnation doin'? The ridiculous joke made you chuckle and when he snapped his attention to you, it made your insides seize up and you got to work immediately, and let's just say you weren't exactly sweating from the sun beating down on your skin. Once you felt his gaze leave, you looked over your shoulder to check what he was doing.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" Cagney said, in such a way that could only be described as _fucking pissed_. You pointed a lazy finger downward, but he didn't seem to even notice it and continued. 

"You, you brought the Root Pack here. I don't mind a little brawl every once in a while, but they destroyed my garden," You took a moment to look him up and down for any sign that he might have gotten his ass kicked. He snorted in response. 

"Of course I won. But it was your fault they were here, so you're gonna work for me until I see fit," You had no clue how he was trying to have a serious conversation with you when you were so out of it that every blink took two more seconds than normal and your hair couldn't pick a direction. He may have noticed and just didn't care because he took you over to his garden and dropped you there, and shortly after a spade shot into the ground merely inches from your eyes.

You pushed yourself onto your elbows and your gaze landed on the carnation. What in tarnation is that carnation doin'? The ridiculous joke made you chuckle and when he snapped his attention to you, it made your insides seize up and you got to work immediately, and let's just say you weren't exactly sweating from the sun beating down on your skin. Once you felt his gaze leave, you looked over your shoulder to check what he was doing.

His body leaned up against a nearby tree and he was reading through an old book. He seemed to bandage himself up in the spare time he had after he put you to work. His efforts to his garden were commendable, especially since it has been a day since you passed out. He closed his book and his gaze lazily fell on you. A bolt of shock ripped through your spine and you spun around with lightning fast speed and continued on your work to make up for lost time. You felt the ground lightly shuffle behind you, and then a presence hovering over your back.

"Hrmph. You're planting those wrong, you know. You're supposed to dig a hole in the ground to put the bulbs into, not just pile up the dirt around them," You gave him a nervous chuckle and made quick work of fixing an hour of mistakes. Once you ran out of bulbs you sat down and wiped the sweat off of your face, breathing a sigh of relief. The sun was already going down so you stood up casually and made your way to the fence gate.

"You aren't done yet, so don't even think about leaving until you've finished," came a haughty voice from behind a large shed. A green arm slunk around the building to open the double doors and out rolled at least twenty more sacks of flower bulbs. _Oh gods_ you think to yourself. You were going to be here a lot longer than you thought

Since it was already getting too dark to see, Cagney went into his shed for rest, leaving you outside alone. You pondered finding an exit, but It was so pitch-dark that nothing in your vision could be outlined. There was no moon that could be seen. This new inky world was unnatural, so, for now, you just laid down on the cold ground to rest.


End file.
